Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, China, Colenso, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Cynic, Dad, Daddyhood, Death, Deutsch, Embarrassing Moments, Emotion, England, Family, Grand announcements, Jill, LaLaLand, London, Love, Marketing, Mum, Mum & Dad, Nottingham, Otis, Paul, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, R/GA, Relationships, Stubborness, Sunshine, The Kennedys, Uncorporated, Wieden+Kennedy
I’ve written this blog consistently for 15 years.
FIFTEEN!!!
My god …
But it gets worse.
Because bar a few weeks of holiday, it is something that has been written every single Monday to Friday.
That means there has been over 3,900 posts of utter gibberish for over 780 weeks.
And as tragic as that all sounds, there’s an awful lot of people who comment on here who have been here pretty much all that time.
LOSERS!!!
Now, I have to say there are some lovely benefits to long term blog writing.
In some ways it’s like a diary … capturing what I was thinking or doing at any given time.
It also is a lovely way to see how my opinions and thoughts have evolved over time.
Plus there’s the hope that when I’m gone, Otis will still feel his Dad is close.
OK … OK … there are some posts I definitely DON’T want him to read, but there’s others I’d be glad for him to keep going back to.
Putting aside I basically write the same 3 or 4 posts over and over again … there is a lot of my life contained in these pages.
From getting married to losing my Mum to having my son.
Proper life-changing stuff … and that doesn’t even cover the moves to different countries, jobs and homes.
The best and worst of my life is detailed here which is why – despite all these big life events being sandwiched between endless amounts of shit – I still like it.
Occasionally I randomly click on a date and just see what I wrote.
Recently I did this and was reminded what a little shit I was.
OK, can be.
It’s this.
Yep, it’s the time I tried to auction off Martin Sorrell’s business card so people could send him stupid messages or texts.
On the plus side, I was offering to give any money to charity.
On the negative, I was working for WPP at the time.
If you think that’s stupid, there was the time I wrote a post featuring a photo of Sir Martin with a picture of Toad of Toad Hall under the caption ‘Spot The Difference’.
And the weird thing is that while I don’t agree with his approach to creativity, I do respect him. I have met him on a number of occasions and he was very, very impressive.
Though it’s fair to say that respect was only one way, Especially when there was an agency Q&A and I asked him ‘what do you spend all your money on?’
So Sir Martin … even though I know you would never read this blog [more proof you’re clever] I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for my stupidity. It was ridiculous … but if it’s any consolation, at least it wasn’t as bad as this.
I know … I know … this was a terrible post even by my standards.
So celebrate in the fact that tomorrow is Good Friday so I’m off till next Tuesday and you’re not going have to deal with any more of this shit till then.
I don’t know about you … but it’s the sort of news that makes you almost believe in God, doesn’t it.
Happy Easter, enjoy the sugar rush.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Comment, Creativity, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
In 2016, I started the inaugural Kennedys at Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai.
9 strangers – only united by a love and talent for creativity – spent 9 months having to deal with me pushing, challenging and giving them a safe place for creative danger and stupidity.
We did a lot over that time.
From bleaching hair to making an arcade game from scratch to filming a movie about Romeo and Juliet featuring bananas and apples as the lead characters to name but a few.
In fact, over that 9 months, they graduated having made over 140 pieces of wonderfully bonkers creativity … which you can read/see and learn more about it here.
In many ways it was one of the most special times of my life, let alone at Wieden.
To think I only ended up agreeing to start/run it because I didn’t like/trust the person they were going to ask if I said no to it, blows my mind – especially as it had a major impact on what my ambitions and plans for the future were.
I think a lot of you know I thought I was going to do something with MIT who were incredibly generous to me in terms of letting me ‘train’ while still working at Wieden. But after seeing how much I loved guiding the chaos of pure creativity, I realised that journey was not for me … which ultimately led me to things I never imagined could ever have happened, from Metallica and Billionaire street fashion owners to Colenso and NZ.
Anyway, a while back, I received this …
That pic features 5 of the guys from The Kennedys who still live in Shanghai.
Quentin, Felix, Meng, Wenshu and the amazing Juni, who not only humoured my stupid ideas for assignments, but found ways to make them happen and not get anyone arrested.
They met up for dinner and I have to say, it made me so happy.
Not just because I miss them and it was great to see their faces, but because they went through an experience that few could ever imagine or hope for … so to see it result in bonds that last – despite them going on all manner of creative tension rollercoasters – is especially pleasing, as that was one of my unspoken hopes for the program.
Contrary to what a lot of people may think, while you meet and work with a lot of people in the industry – you don’t always make deep bonds.
A lot can be quite transitory so when you do find it, you really treasure it.
I’m fortunate I have that with quite a few people I’ve worked with.
Bonds built on respect, experience and working together to get out of the tightest corner in the most provocative, creative, interesting of ways.
It’s why so many of those people are folks I worked in China with.
Because you found yourself in very strange situations there.
All. The. Time.
And while it was stressful and mad, it was also exciting, infectious and utterly amazing and I hope that’s part of the reason why the guys at The Kennedys have that.
The Kennedys is a very special thing.
If you have the chance to apply, especially in Amsterdam or London, you should.
It’ll change your life.
It definitely changed mine.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Chaos, China, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, HHCL, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Martin Weigel, Perspective, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Relevance, Resonance, Shanghai, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
A while back, I did a presentation for the Brazilian APG about the dangers of perfect.
Or more precisely, the boredom of it.
It was my usual rambling mess of random pictures that goes off on tangents a protractor would find hard to calculate … but I still liked the underlying point that perfection stops possibilities whereas acts others may view as stupid … creates them.
[If you’re mad, you can see a static version of the presentation here]
I say I liked the underlying point until I saw this.
I really, really like this.
I love the idea that flaws help us connect.
I love that imperfection can make us feel normal. That it is something to aspire to.
Of course, the reality is perfection is just an illusion.
One persons definition of what is the ultimate expression of an idea.
A temporary moment, where they believe nothing better has been explored or revealed.
The problems start when that definition starts being challenged.
While some embrace it – seeing it as a way to push the boundaries of what they thought was possible – many fight it.
Using their definition to control, limit or devalue the work of the challengers.
Sometimes it’s due to ego.
Sometimes it’s due to money.
But everytime it aims to oppress rather than liberate.
It’s happening everywhere.
From technology processes to agency ‘proprietary’ tools.
And while there is a lot to be said for being proud of what you have done, when you use it to stop people creating their own version, it’s not.
I’ve seen too many people in too many companies follow the orders of their bosses simply because it’s easier to do that. Where they know expressing a different point of view will be seen as an attack rather than an attempt for everyone to be even better.
So while perfect might be nice and shiny and make you feel good, it also has the power to stop progress.
Or as the brilliant chart at the top of this post states, stop feeling you can relate.
Not because it’s so far ahead, but because of the speed society evolves, it’s too far behind.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, America, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Australia, Authenticity, Business, Chaos, Charinee, China, Chinese Culture, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Diversity, Emotion, Empathy, England, Equality, Experience, Facebook, Innovation, Insight, London, Management, Marketing, New Zealand, Paula, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Politics, Relevance, Resonance, Rodi, Ros, Shanghai, Singapore, The Kennedys, Wieden+Kennedy
I recently saw the above quote in The Athletic magazine.
The idea that Manchester City – albeit during their less successful period – had to provide ‘rain charts’ to show potential signings that their city was not wetter than London surprised me.
Then I came to my senses.
Society has an incredible knack of trying to lift themselves up by putting others down.
Obviously racism is the work example of this, but we do it everyday in lots of little ways.
From blanket attitudes such as …
“People from the North are backwards”.
To city affirmations such as …
“Manchester is the musical capital of England”.
To hierarchy comparison such as …
“I may be from Nottingham but at least I’m not from Derby”.
It’s not only bollocks, it’s also often stated by people who have never gone anywhere near the cities/countries they are negatively judging. Now I know people will say it’s all a bit of a joke – and I appreciate between mates, it can be – but there’s a lot of perceived truth in those sorts of statements, which has been exploited by all manner of organisations, especially politics.
When I lived in China, I was shocked how hard it was to recruit people from outside of Asia to come and work at Wieden+Kennedy.
OK, it may have been because they didn’t want to work with me … but even then, the amount of people who started off claiming to be interested and then said ‘it wasn’t for them’, was incredible. [Though maybe you will still find it understandable. Bastards. Ha]
There was a time where I almost gave up wanting to hire people from outside the region due to it being so much hassle. But the reality was I always felt it important to have a real mix in the gang. Sure, the vast majority of them had to be from the country/region – but by incorporating people from outside of it, I felt it created a tension that led to better and more provocative thinking. In addition, it could also help stop the blind and blinkered views we kept seeing and hearing from the West … because the more Westerners we got to experience the crazy, infectious magic of the nation, the more positive voices we would infect the rest of the world with.
But many people we talked to weren’t interested in changing their blinkered opinion.
So many didn’t even bother to investigate more about China, they were just happy to keep making their false judgements.
Oh they were all very happy to work for Wieden+Kennedy, they just didn’t want it to be in China and would often say, “but if you could connect me to people in London/Portland/NY/Amsterdam” etc.
And if they were really interesting and had a valid reason to not leave their country, I would.
Didn’t happen often.
I find it amazing that people – especially planners – don’t want to explore the World.
Planners go on about curiosity but what they mean is they are curious under certain conditions of personal comfort.
Behind a desk.
Surrounded by people and things they know.
Never venturing outside of the bubble they’ve created.
Of course not everyone is like this, but there’s a lot who are. Viewing the world and passing judgement on it via Twitter rather than experience.
In the case of China – as with anywhere I’ve lived – if the issue became about the country we were in, it probably wasn’t going to work. Of course it was OK to have concerns and questions, but if I sensed you saw it as a hardship rather than an opportunity or you thought you knew everything when you would have to relearn everything, you were not going to be someone I wanted on the team.
I was, and still am, eternally grateful to everyone I’ve had the honour to work with – and I’ve been incredibly fortunate with the incredible and diverse talent I’ve inherited and nurtured – however those in China will always have a unique place in my heart.
Because whether they were from China, Asia or further afield, all of them knew what they were taking on with the job. Not just in terms of the standards and expectations of Wieden+Kennedy, but the inherent perceptions, prejudices and lies that existed in society – and the ad industry as a whole – towards China and Asia.
And it’s for this reason that I fucking loved seeing them do work others could only dream about, especially when the industries perception was ‘China doesn’t do great work’ or ‘there’s no good planning in Asia’ … often muttered by people who have neither been to China or done great work.
But even that doesn’t make me as happy as seeing where they have all ended up …
Not just in terms of the level they’re at – from running departments, big pieces of business or companies – but the actual organisations they work with or have worked with.
Nike. Ideo. Tik-Tok. Wieden. Mother. 72. Anomoly. Supreme. Playstation. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Facebook. Google. Net-A-Porter. Instagram.
Not just in China but in countries that include America, Taiwan, Holland, UK, Singapore and Australia. Not forgetting the mob who decided to start their own thing and are now working on a bunch of fascinating projects from gaming to research.
I’m not just proud of them, I’m excited for them … because I truly believe they will do stuff that is interesting, intriguing and valuable for the rest of us.
And while most of their achievements are down to their talent and graft, another part is because of what China gave them.
Unique knowledge, experience and understanding of people and situations.
Some will never understand that.
Some will never value that.
But for those who were there – and the companies who hired them – they absolutely do.
Because while some make choices based on not wanting to leave things behind, this group of wonderful fools made their decisions based on what they could gain … and they didn’t need a rain comparison chart to convince them.
Thank you to all of them.
Thank you to anyone who runs towards the challenge not the comfortable.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, Business, Chaos, China, Colenso, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Diversity, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Family, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Jill, London, Management, Marketing, Martin Weigel, Metallica, Nike, Otis, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Purpose, R/GA, Shanghai, Singapore, Social Divide, Sport, Technology, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
When you’re my age, you get to look at your career and see the different phases that it passes through.
I remember one year at Wieden, we seemed to make more beautiful, highly-crafted physical books on culture than we did ads.
Now I’m a huge fan of these – and still do them – but that year I think we made about 10, which was frankly ridiculous.
Then there was the year I got told I’d spoken at more conferences than anyone at Wieden.
It wasn’t said as a diss, more a fact – though I do remember Luhr looking at me with the face of someone who couldn’t work out why anyone would want me to talk at their event.
He wasn’t wrong.
Then there was the year I seemed to be in every bloody Asian marketing book or article and then of course, The Kennedys.
It happens. It’s rarely an intentional thing, but the nature of the business means it can be like that … and while I’ll always prefer to be involved in creating stuff, it does let you feel things are evolving and that’s a good feeling.
Well this year is another one of those years.
Part of this is because of the situation the World is in and part of it is because of the situation I have found myself in.
However, whereas previous years have seemingly had singular focuses, this year has had two.
Icons of culture and podcasts.
Both have been pretty awesome.
Musicians … Fashion superstars … Gaming Royalty … Billionaires.
Frankly people who should know a lot better than to ever want me to work with them … and yet, for reasons I don’t understand but am utterly grateful for, they have.
It’s certainly very different to the work I’ve done in the past, but it not only is introducing me to a whole new world of creative expression – from developing new concert experiences to video game design to stuff that is genuinely almost impossible for me to describe as it’s just plain beautifully bonkers – it’s letting me work with people who are recognised as being the best in their field so to be in this position … and to have Colenso to look forward to in addition … feels like winning the lottery.
I know this all sounds like humble bragging – but that’s not the intent.
To be honest, it’s more about me writing it down so I never forget this feeling.
This moment.
Because as tough as it is for people all around the World, I am very, very fortunate so many good things have come my way.
But that’s not what this post is about, it’s about the other thing I’ve been doing a lot of.
Podcasts.
I’ve done a ton this year.
[Here and here and here for example]
Why people want to hear from me – especially when I write so much bollocks about my life on here – is another thing I don’t get … but it’s been fun.
Recently the lovely/stupid people at Colenso had chat with me for their Love This podcast …
We cover all manner of subjects … from running a planning gang to developing creativity in a pandemic to how to be a fucking idiot … so if you’re bored, an insomniac or are jealous of Colenso’s brilliance and are looking forward to the pain they’ll experience with me in the building, you can listen to it at one of these places.